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Hey Microsoft: why not Phil Spencer?

Castef

Banned
Ok, now that Don Mattrick went to Zynga in order to develop MattrickVille and Julie Larson-Green has been appointed as a new responsible for the Xbox business in Microsoft I was wondering... why not Phil Spencer?

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Right now he's Corporate Vice President at Microsoft Game Studios and according to me he is one of the few people in Microsoft which is actually promoting properly the new console, with good communication and the right focus on games.

At the E3 he was the only Microsoft representative who actually sent a pair of important messages to the crowd:
- "Let's focus about games"
- "We are listening" (when announcing Killer Instinct, yet it is some kind of "meme" he adopted in several occasions).

For instance, here it is a recent post-E3 interview with him.

Now... let alone he resembles The Punisher and always seems about to kill you using a bottle of Jack Daniels... i really think that he is one of the faces which could successfully promote Xbox One (and the Xbox brand in general) and try to fix some of the damage recent announcements and attitudes by Microsoft inflicted to the brand.

So, why no Spencer at the Xbox helm?
 
Probably because he doesn't manage that important of a group for MS, the new restructuring meant a whole lot more responsibility than just the Xbox, Balmer probably wanted someone with more experience
 
He looks like he should be in the 80s, working the stock market and doing blow.


I have no idea if he is a good executive or not... but that's all i think when I look at a picture of him. I'm shallow.
 
Phil Spencer is a poison pill. PS3 was at it's most disastrous when he was there, it wasn't until he left that they started to turn things around. He then went to Atari and torpedoed them completely and now has joined MS who had arguably the most disastrous console reveal in history.

That's why.

EDIT: Also I'm talking about the wrong person cause I'm a dumb shit.
 
Because Balmer.

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This.

Ballmer needs to go. Mattrick would still be there if Ballmer was not there to muck things up. Even if Mattrick left, Xbox would be left alone and run by real gamers/people with more experience in video games.

Anyone who describes their corporate strategy as 'being on a football team' then changing the structure of the company every few years doesn't know what they are talking about. Ballmer is essentially in panic mode and figures the solution will be have their Xbox area like all the other areas of Microsoft (because that worked so great with Windows Vista & 8 and Windows 8 Phone).
 
None of the 'faces' of Xbox are likeable. Phil Spencer is one of the worst in my opinion. Mattrick a close second. All are like cheap snidey used car salesmen.

New team, passionate faces who you can identify with.
 
Phil Spencer is a poison pill. PS3 was at it's most disastrous when he was there, it wasn't until he left that they started to turn things around. He then went to Atari and torpedoed them completely and now has joined MS who had arguably the most disastrous console reveal in history.

That's why.
Uh... I believe you are thinking of Phil Harrison.
 
Phil Spencer is a poison pill. PS3 was at it's most disastrous when he was there, it wasn't until he left that they started to turn things around. He then went to Atari and torpedoed them completely and now has joined MS who had arguably the most disastrous console reveal in history.

That's why.

Not sure if joking but you are talking about Phil Harrison :)
 
Phil Spencer really? I always thought he came off in a bad light and certainly didn't sell me on the system.

Whether he means well or not doesn't matter when the image he projects comes off as so negative.
 
None of the 'faces' of Xbox are likeable. Phil Spencer is one of the worst in my opinion. Mattrick a close second. All are like cheap snidey used car salesmen.

New team, passionate faces who you can identify with.
They're basically selling unsightly old cars, after all.
 
Phil Spencer is a poison pill. PS3 was at it's most disastrous when he was there, it wasn't until he left that they started to turn things around. He then went to Atari and torpedoed them completely and now has joined MS who had arguably the most disastrous console reveal in history.

That's why.

EDIT: Also I'm talking about the wrong person cause I'm a dumb shit.

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Other Phil.
 
Mattrick was probably the biggest games guy to ever run a console, a games exec who had been doing nothing but games since he was a kid.

That didn't work out so great for gamers.

With management at this level, you need someone good more than you need someone with the right background (though obviously both would be preferable).
 
Nothing against her at all.

Just thinking that a person with a deeper videogame background could be more effective driving the Xbox business right now.
At that position it doesn't really matter though. The division isn't run by one person, there will be a lot of people updating and advising her so it really isn't an issue.
 
Just thinking that a person with a deeper videogame background could be more effective driving the Xbox business right now.

Wasnt Don Mattrick just that? A passionate gamer for like 30 years. And yet during his time, the Xbox went from a game console to a Kinect-Avatar-TV-VivaPinata console?
 
Because those are huge shoes to Phil.
I'm sorry.

I'm just glad that he's still at the company. He's the best guy they've got.
 
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